1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to word-processing methods.
2. Introduction and Review of the Prior Art
A tool that enables users to automatically, incrementally, and multi-dimensionally adjust multiple dimensions of prose style would be very useful for a wide variety of applications. Key dimensions of prose style may include the following: person perspective (e.g. use of third person); tense (e.g. use of future tense); voice (e.g. use of active voice); length (e.g. larger number of characters); vocabulary (e.g. college level vocabulary); formality (e.g. more formal words and sentence structure); colloquiality (e.g. greater use of colloquial expressions and slang); complexity (e.g. more complex wording and sentence structure); emotion (e.g. more emotive words); emoticons (e.g. greater use of emoticons in prose); color (e.g. varying word/phrase color to reflect word/phrase meaning); font (e.g. varying word/phrase font to reflect word/phrase meaning); romantic (more romantic style); positivity (e.g. more positive tone); strength (e.g. stronger language); precision (e.g. more precise wording); certainty (e.g. more certain wording); alliteration (e.g. more words with same first letter); humor (e.g. greater use of humorous expressions and comments); nationality (e.g. British English spellings and expressions); regionality (e.g. more use of Southern expressions); gender specificity (e.g. gender neutral wording); obscenity filter (e.g. alternative phrases for obscene phrases); academic jargon (e.g. more academic jargon); business jargon (e.g. more business jargon); legal jargon (e.g. more legal jargon); medical jargon (e.g. more medical jargon); scientific jargon (e.g. more scientific jargon); and connectivity jargon (e.g. more internet-style words and abbreviations).
There is some prior art for automatically changing the style of prose-based content. However, this prior art appears to be relatively limited, especially compared to the tools that are available for changing key dimensions of other types of content, such as image-based content and sound-based content. For example, there are tools in the prior art, including Adobe Photoshop®, that enable a user to incrementally and multi-dimensionally adjust key dimensions (such as color saturation, color hue, contrast, and various photographic filters) of image-based content such as photographs. There are also tools in the prior art, including Pro Tools®, that enable a user to incrementally and multi-dimensionally adjust key dimensions (such as frequency-range-specific volume and special audio effects such as reverb) of audio content such as music. However, there is much less progress in the prior art when it comes to tools to modify the style of prose-based content. Specifically, there does not appear to be any comparable tool in the prior art (in the field of word processing, for example) that enables a user to incrementally and multi-dimensionally adjust key dimensions of prose style. This is the gap that is filled by the invention disclosed herein. We now review the most relevant prior art in the field of prose processing.
There is prior art that appears to disclose methods for changing the style of one document to match the style of one (or more) other documents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,472,343 (Vasey, 2008, “Systems, Methods and Computer Programs for Analysis, Clarification, Reporting on and Generation of Master Documents for Use in Automated Document Generation”) appears to disclose a method to change the style of one document to match the style of a master document. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 7,627,562(Kacmarcik et al., 2009, “Obfuscating Document Stylometry”) appears to disclose a method to change the style of one document to match the style of one or more other documents. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 7,599,899 (Rehberg et al., 2009, “Report Construction Method Applying Writing Style and Prose Style to Information of User Interest”) appears to disclose a method to change the style of one document to match the style of prior documents written by a single person.
There is also prior art that appears to disclose binary methods to substitute words or phrases to change a single dimension of prose style. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,973 (Carlgren et al, 1984, “Automatic Text Grade Level Analyzer for a Text Processing System”) appears to disclose a method to substitute words in a body of prose to match the vocabulary of a certain grade level. U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,039 (Zamora, 1988, “Information Processing System for Compaction and Replacement of Phrases”) appears to disclose a method to replace “trite” phrases in a body of prose and U.S. Pat. No. 7,113,943 (Bradford et al., 2006, “Method for Document Comparison and Selection”) appears to disclose a method to replace idioms in a body of prose. U.S. patent application 20070100823 (Inmon, 2007, “Techniques for Manipulating Unstructured Data using Synonyms and Alternate Spellings Prior to Recasting as Structured Data”) appears to disclose a method to substitute phrases in documents to make them more search-engine friendly.
Although prior art in this field has some useful applications, it tends to be binary (all or nothing) and unidimensional (changing only one dimension of prose style). None of the prior art appears to enable a user to incrementally and multi-dimensionally adjust the style of prose-based content in a manner analogous to the way in which Adobe Photoshop® enables adjustment of image-based content or Pro Tools® enables adjustment of sound-based content. The invention disclosed herein fills this gap in the field of word processing methods for prose-based content. It is a system and method for incremental, multi-dimensional adjustment of prose style.